Peugeot is killing off the GTI badge and ending its long relationship with hot hatches, despite being responsible for pioneering the segment in the eighties with the iconic 205 GTI.
Fans of cars like the 106, 205 and 306 GTI have longed for a modern interpretation but Peugeot has decided to end the iconic three letters on its cars for good, which are currently carried by the 207.
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“For us, the GTI concept is dead,” Peugeot marketing director Christian Stein told Autocar. “We will move away from hot hatches towards premium sports coupes.
"The GTI means a lot to English people but it is time to move on.”
The move is part of a strategy to reinvent Peugeot, and the car maker will concentrate on making sleek, sporty coupes like the RCZ instead.
The RCZ is similar in size to the Audi TT and Peugeot is now considering whether to introduce a smaller coupe to the range too.
However, the successful 207 and 308 CC models could stand in its way because the folding hardtops offer virtually the same benefits to customers, believes Peugeot.
Ollie Stallwood
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Re: Peugeot axes GTI badge
Peugeot really are strange, just as more mainstream manufacturers are jumping back into the hot hatch sector and taking it seriously, they decide its time to abandon ship. As stated elsewhere its all well and good producing coupe models, but once these become too small for the growing family, you would in theory want something exciting from the same manufacturer, ie a larger hatchback GTI or similar.
Re: Peugeot axes GTI badge
At last somebody that understands suspension.
Peugeot have all the kit to make an exciting hot hatch. The 207 GTi engine can deliver the goods as it's fitted to the Cooper S putting out 200bhp plus.
They aren't so lightweight anymore but to an extent that can be overcome with firmer suspension. That will also give them a more exciting and raw feel to them too.
The 206 could easily have been better but sold in massive numbers (meaning profit!). They fitted it with such soggy suspension though. All it needed was a rear anti roll bar of similar proportions to the older models to give it that classic Peugeot handling but they fitted a spindley little thing instead. It was fast enough (bearing in mind it was launched 10 years ago) to fit between the 106GTi and 306GTi but they didn't want it to be any better than the 306 which cost substantially more (18k ish) as the 306 was more profitable.
Peugeot also have a motorsport brand ready set up (Peugeot Sport/Racing) so why don't they use it to inject some exciteitement into their road cars?
Re: Peugeot axes GTI badge
I'm ashamed to admit it, but I thought they'd droppped the GTi badge years ago....